Wheat Recovers From 42-Month Low on Speculation Demand to Build

Wheat rebounded in Chicago on speculation demand for U.S. supplies will strengthen after prices reached a 42-month low yesterday. Corn headed for the first monthly gain in five.

Wheat tumbled 29 percent in the past year on the Chicago Board of Trade on an outlook for record-high world output and yesterday touched $5.50 a bushel, the lowest since July 2010. U.S. export sales probably increased in the week ended Jan. 23 from a year earlier, based on a survey of four analysts by Bloomberg News before the U.S. Department of Agriculture releases figures today.

"Its weak price means U.S. wheat is also becoming more competitive than European wheat for buyers overseas," Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG, said in an e-mailed note today. The export-sales report "may give a clearer picture," he said.

Wheat for delivery in March rose 0.7 percent to $5.555 a bushel at 6:24 a.m. in Chicago, paring this month’s decline to 8.2 percent. Milling wheat for delivery in November, the most- active contract by open interest, slid 0.3 percent to 181.25 euros ($246.34) a metric ton on NYSE Liffe in Paris.

Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, bought 60,000 tons from the U.S. in a tender on Jan. 28, in addition to 180,000 tons from Russia. The North African country spurned European Union supplies.

Harvest Estimates

Global grain production may be a record 1.94 billion tons in the 2013-14 season, the International Grains Council said Dec. 11. The agency is scheduled to update its monthly crop forecasts today.

Snowfall this weekend in the Midwest and central Great Plains will help insulate dormant winter crops against potential damage from "very cold" temperatures expected in the next two weeks, Commodity Weather Group said in an e-mailed report today. Further storms next week will bring additional snow and improve moisture conditions for crops, it said.

Corn for delivery in March gained 0.3 percent to $4.2875 a bushel in Chicago, headed for a 1.6 percent advance this month. Soybeans for the same delivery month dropped 0.3 percent to $12.655 a bushel, poised for a second monthly decline.